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Sunday, 9 March 2014

February Favourites

Oops! Posting this a bit later than I wanted to, I definitely haven't learned from my last post where I mentioned that I wanted to become more organised. I don't really have too much to talk about this month as I've been pretty busy- although I'm very pleased to say I passed my second insurance exam on the 28th which has definitely made up for my lack of spare time this month!

I'll quickly talk about the scent that's been in my tart burner this month: Yankee Candle's Beachwood. After getting a huge set for Christmas of so many strong and interesting scents, I realised that I much prefer the more natural and perhaps slightly weaker scents- having my room smell like cinnamon for months on end is slightly overpowering! I've got a couple of other scents similar to this that I want to try out as they don't smell too strong in the packaging but overall my tart burner was such a good Christmas gift- thanks Mum!

I'd had a Tangle Teaser on my Pinterest wishlist for a good few months but never bought one because of the £10 price tag for what is, essentially, a comb. So when I saw a knock-off 'Tangle Attack' in Poundland I thought I'd give it a go. Obviously the quality is relatively poor, I've already lost a couple of the bristles but all in all I think a better deal than the original as I wanted to try it out but wasn't sure if I'd be using it every day.

This month I decided to treat myself to my first make-up product by The Balm- a gorgeous blusher called Frat Boy! The packaging is incredibly cute and the colour is natural but at the same time stands out. I'm glad I read the reviews on Amazon before I bought it as the overused phrase 'a little goes a long way' became apparent when I was close to looking like a clown the first time I put it on. If you've read my last post you'll know that I said I would buy myself The Balm's Mary-Lou-Manizer if I passed my exam- I haven't gotten around to purchasing it yet but from what I hear it's going to secure a place in my March favourites this month!

The Body Shop's Hemp Hand Protector would have been in my January favourites, but I always keep it on my desk at work for when my hands are looking a bit distressed from my journey to work so is a lot more use than it would be at home. Thankfully I remembered to bring it home so I could include it in my favourites and talk about why I like it. The formula is quite thick; you definitely don't need a lot to moisturize your hands well which is a plus as the bottles last a lot longer. My friend at work recommended to put some on the back of your hand and rub the backs of your hands together, as it can be quite greasy if you rub it all over your hands. The only downside to this product (for some people) is the smell. Even though I really like it, I can tell that it's the sort of thing you'll have to get used to as the benefits of the cream far outweigh the smell.

Lastly for this section, I purchased Maybelline's The Rocket mascara as it was on one of Estée's monthly favourites and I was in need of a new mascara and it's pretty good! My eyelash routine is to curl them, then use Maxfactor's False Lash Effect mascara to separate my eyelashes (it's almost run out but is still useful) then I put another mascara on top. This Maybelline product is a good one for this last step, however I have a feeling that if my eyelashes weren't curled or separated beforehand the outcome wouldn't be as good.

I mentioned a few posts back that I wanted to try out Garnier's Micellar Cleansing Water as I knew that they were a lot better for your skin than make-up wipes. I think this is a brilliant product as I've used it after taking my make-up off with a wipe and found that even more product comes off after using it, so it's a great remover if you're wearing a lot of make-up and I feel like my face is a lot cleaner and feels fresher after using this.

The Marc Jacobs shower set isn't new to me as I've had them since September; I bought myself the Daisy Eau So Fresh perfume set when I got my very first paycheck but because of the amount of shower gels and body lotions that I currently have, they went straight in my drawer and I hadn't used them until this month. As I've said before, if you want a scent to last, you're much better off using different products from the same range as the scent lingers on your skin for longer than just using a perfume by itself; which is what I often do with this set to prolong the gorgeous smell that Daisy has.

I'm a big fan of minimalistic jewelery at the moment, as they can be layered with other pieces or just lay daintily alone. This necklace is from ASOS and looks perfect with some of the longer necklaces I own, as I would say this is a medium length. The mirror in the picture was my Mum's; the floral print goes so nicely with my plain walls and the rose gold details are very on-trend considering I've had this in my room for years! Definitely something that will come with me when I move out if Mum lets me!

A slightly horrendous picture of my new shoes but this was the best of the bunch! I know that so many people have bought these shoes but with Topshop you can't really expect to buy something and not see 5 other people wearing it on the same day as you and ever since I saw Lily wearing them I knew I wanted them! I've had a lot of wear out of my checked Vans slip-ons since I bought them around a year ago so I know that I'll be wearing these a lot too.

I hadn't had much luck for a while with buying nice bags in Charity shops until a couple of weeks ago. This is a perfect bag for going shopping as it fits all the necessities and it means that I can't fill my bag with junk like I usually do with bigger bags. The make is Pierre Balmain and I bought it for a mighty £2.99. The bag doesn't even look/smell like its been used which is a huge bonus for me as I care a lot more about the quality of a bag rather than who's designed it.

Last month I spoke a bit about a film I had been loving, but this month nothing really sprung at me as I haven't had much time to watch films- I haven't even been watching Dexter and I had been hooked on it for months! I was listening to a few musical soundtracks this afternoon (as you do) when I remembered how obsessed I was with the musical Wicked after I saw it on broadway last year. It was INCREDIBLE! The storyline is interesting and such a fun take on the original story of The Wizard of Oz; it's always quite impressive when someone can take an idea that is known so well around the world and change people's perceptions about the characters using the idea of a prequel like Wicked is.
The cast was absolutely fantastic; Katie Rose Clarke as Glinda (who stole the show for me, she is a fantastic singer and performer) Lindsay Mendez as Elphaba and Derek Klena as Fiyero. The only problem with how amazing it was is that I don't think I'll ever be able to go and see it again because I'm afraid it won't live up to the first time!
I'm sure everyone has seen/heard of Wicked but if you haven't (or even if you have) I thoroughly recommend you watch Katie Rose Clarke singing Popular because she is bloody hilarious; hate to be controversial but I've also watched Kristen Chenoweth perform it and as much as I adore the woman, KRC just does it better.

Images by Google- edited by me

That wraps up my February Favourites! Let me know what your favourites were and if you loved any of the same things!